A Song on the End of the World by Czesław Miłosz (Poem Analysis)

In this blog, I shall be analyzing a poem that was made by a Lithuanian/Polish poet by the name of Czesław Miłosz. I shall briefly discuss his origins, the inspiration behind the poem, and analysis. The poem itself has various analytical answers on various web-pages and thus I will be mentioning or quoting some of my favorite answers along with my personal interpretation.

Miłosz was born in Szetejnie/Šateiniai, Poland (now Lithuania) on 30th June 1911. His mother's name was Weronika and his father was Aleksander Miłosz. Miłoszs' father was an engineer who later got recruited in the army during WWI. During 1921 his family decided to settle in Polish Wilno and then ten years later around April 1931 co-founded the Polish avant-garde literary group “Żagary” (Frick, Connelly, Hass, n.d.).

(AKG Images/East News, n.d.)

During World War II Miłosz sought out a safe haven in Romania but came back to Wilno seeking a Lithuanian passport. June 1940 the soviets took control of the city and he later made his way to the German-occupied Warsaw illegally and through secretive means. He was a prominent underground figure in literature with his soon-to-be wife Janina Dłuska. Miłosz acquired a pseudonym as naming himself Jan Syruć and joined a socialist underground group called “Wolność” (“Liberty”) (Frick, Connelly, Hass, n.d.).

(Wegiel, 1998)

Fast-forwarding to 1960, Miłosz permanently moved to the United States until his death on 14th August 2004. He won a Nobel prize on 9th October 1980 from the Division of Arts and Humanities (Frick, Connelly, Hass, n.d.).

(Ericson, 1980)

Miłosz, today is known to be a prominent figure in literature around the world but especially in Poland. He has made enough poems to cover over 1400 pages (Czesław Miłosz, n.d.).

(Dr Inż. Szepski, 2017)

The poem I will be analyzing that he made while he was at Warsaw around 1944 (or 1945) is called “A Song on the End of the World”. The inspiration of the poem has its roots from the period when the Naziʼs invaded Poland during WWII (1939) and the chaos that rained on the lands of the Poles (Warsaw Uprising) (Jason, 2002), (Bainbridge, 2006). The utter destruction around Miłosz caused him to write such a sublime poem.

The poem is shown below (translated by Anthony Miłosz) (Poetry Foundation, n.d.),

“On the day the world ends

A bee circles a clover,

A fisherman mends a glimmering net.

Happy porpoises jump in the sea,

By the rainspout young sparrows are playing

And the snake is gold-skinned as it should always be.

On the day the world ends

Women walk through the fields under their umbrellas,

A drunkard grows sleepy at the edge of a lawn,

Vegetable peddlers shout in the street

And a yellow-sailed boat comes nearer the island,

The voice of a violin lasts in the air

And leads into a starry night.

And those who expected lightning and thunder

Are disappointed.

And those who expected signs and archangelsʼ trumps

Do not believe it is happening now.

As long as the sun and the moon are above,

As long as the bumblebee visits a rose,

As long as rosy infants are born

No one believes it is happening now.

Only a white-haired old man, who would be a prophet

Yet is not a prophet, for heʼs much too busy,

Repeats while he binds his tomatoes:

There will be no other end of the world,

There will be no other end of the world.”

FIRST STANZA

During the first stanza, there are certain beautiful elements that the poet is describing. Positive connotations about the world and its natural form during its ending. Things are happening as they should with imagery descriptions of certain elements such as “glimmering net” and “gold-skinned” snake. It is very likely that these phrases mean dimensional ideas such as, a bee around the clover, a fisherman with his net, porpoises belonging to the sea, sparrows that play and sing and the snake having a golden skin (perhaps due to the sun or morning) (Jason, 2002). Denial of change is brought up during the end by the words “as it should always be” (English2WorldPoetry, 2016).

With a certain interpretation, the word “golden” could refer to something bright, before the ending of the world, and so would the word “glimmer”. There is a definite equivalence being made to the living beings in the first stanza. A bee and a fishermen — there is nothing special describing them, it could very well be a common bee and just another ordinary fisherman. However, later we see that the porpoises are happy and the sparrows are young; giving a specific character or adjective to the creatures. During the last sentence of the first stanza we see very specific characteristics of the snake, “the snake is gold-skinned” — a determiner.

(Jones, 2012)

SECOND STANZA

We start off with the same repetition, “on the day the world ends”. This sort of repetition emphasizes that the world is still coming to end, but what else is happening or going through? In this stanza, there are human activities being drawn to the reader's attention (Jason, 2002). Even during such a crisis, people are yet oblivion to the situation that is about to take place (Melendez, Velasco, Zmboyan, Pho, 2015). We receive various “localisation” distances knowing that regardless of where one is, the world is still coming to an end.

Such as, “through the fields”, “edge of a lawn”, “in the street” and “nearer the island”. Later the poet describes a longing voice or sound from a violin which leads into the night.

A decent interpretation of the last two lines is a quote from a blog, "here, a violin is being personified as something with a voice that is capable of leading. The "starry night" could be a metaphor for the future." (English2WorldPoetry, 2016).

THIRD STANZA

We finally see the reaction of the people as absolute denial and disappointment. If the world is about to “end” we would imagine a triumphant and magnificent sight of the destruction to come. Yet, there is no thunder, signs or archangels to arrive and thus the announcement of the world ending does not move anyone (Jason, 2002), (Melendez, Velasco, Zmboyan, Pho, 2015). There is a repetition once again with the phrase, “as long as…” & “those who…”.

This stanza is one of my favorites among all of the four above. It shows the beauty of ignorance by the people even when the world is ending — not in the literal sense but in the sense of their own. Individual people have a world they move around, whether it may be women who walk through fields or fishermen with their glimmering nets, the “world” they have very well might come to an end.

A particular line about infants being born is an interesting one. A quote from a blog, “the birth of infants may symbolize rebirth and continuity. We associate the birth of babies with beginnings, rather than endings.” (Jason, 2002).

With this, we can determine that as long as there are beginnings, the endings donʼt matter yet. However, with all beginnings, an ending is an eventuality that will take place.

(Kennedy, 2018)

FOURTH STANZA

The final stanza shows a wiser and knowledge-filled man who simply recites that the world is coming to an end (Melendez, Velasco, Zmboyan, Pho, 2015). He is considered a prophet, perhaps the consciousness of a prophet in relation to the ending of the world while he binds his tomatoes.

The very fact that he continues his activity sets up for the notion of how he might already be prepared or simply does not care. An important factor to consider is that while he is just another ordinary human in the grand scheme of the poetic-story he is the only person to know about the future. While the drunkard who lay at the edge of the town, and women who walk through the fields; none are aware of what is about to arrive.

It is well to notice that the repetition of the last two lines is due to the insanity of the old-man. However, it is another perspective just like this entire poem is built on. The last two lines are a call-back to the first two lines during the poem, a cycle or a reminder that the world is ending very soon.

CONCLUSION

The poem was recommended by a friend (Bioinformatics, Musicology) and is a very interesting one. With a heavy war during the time in Warsaw (1944) there is a definite echo to how this poem can resonate with the younger and older generations of Poland.

There is simplicity in the poem as one continues to read it multiple numbers of times, and there are definitely some interesting perspectives that one can gather. The idea remains the same, about the normality in the arrival of the utter chaos and the ignorance of people as they do not believe it due to the neglected factors of either a universal change or a religious arrival.

We can assure that the repetitions in the poem are a kind of emphasis on the subjects and the grand-scheme of the story. As the story is beautiful and calm during the first two stanzaʼs we see a darker, mockery tone from the poet as he describes the characteristics of the disbelief in people. It is no shame that the poem might resemble Poles, as the Polish citizens were perhaps unaware too at that moment of time.

REFERENCES:

AKG Images/East News (n.d.). Czesław Miłosz, photo [Image]. Retrieved from https://culture.pl/en/artist/czeslaw-milosz

Bainbridge, C. (2006, Sep 2nd). Witness to the world: New and Collected Poems 1931-2001. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/sep/02/featuresreviews.guardianreview21

Czesław Miłosz. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://lubimyczytac.pl/ksiazka/258841/wiersze-wszystkie-wydanie-uzupelnione

Dr Inż. Szepski, M. (2017). Digital Library or Library 2.0, or what the library stores [PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved from https://docplayer.pl/60291351-Biblioteka-cyfrowa-czy-biblioteka-2-0-czyli-co-przechowuje-biblioteka.html

English2WorldPoetry. (2016, March 22nd). A Song on the End of the World By Czeslaw Milosz [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://english2worldpoetry.blogspot.com/2016/03/a-song-on-end-of-world-by-czeslaw-milosz.html

Ericson, B. (1980). Czesław Miłosz receives Nobel Prize from his majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden [Image]. Retrieved from https://culture.pl/en/article/5-polish-writers-who-won-the-nobel-prize-in-literature

Frick, D., Connelly, J., Hass, R. (n.d.). Czesław Miłosz. Retrieved from https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/inmemoriam/html/czeslawmilosz.htm

Jason, P. K. (2002). "A Song on the End of the World - Themes and Meanings" Critical Guide to Poetry for Students. Retrieved from http://www.enotes.com/topics/song-end-world#themes-themes-and-meanings

Jones, M. (2012). Bees and clover [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/85732068@N03/8410496902/in/photostream/

Kennedy., L. (2018). Angels [Image]. Retrieved from https://blog.logos.com/2018/12/who-are-the-archangels-in-the-bible/

Melendez, J., Velasco, K., Zmboyan, S., Pho, B. (2015). “A Song on the End of the World” - A poem by Czeslaw Milosz [PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved from https://1.cdn.edl.io/GoEZdidgV0wRh69fAF77CuDQHiV9jR0EZ6Ecpvzm5ufoLuzX.pptx

Poetry Foundation. (n.d.). A Song on the End of the World. Retrieved from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49451/a-song-on-the-end-of-the-world

Wegiel, D. (1998). Janina and Carol, wife of Czesław [Image]. Retrieved from http://kobieta.gazeta.pl/kobieta/56,107880,19132862,nieznane-zony-znanych-mezow-fragmenty-ksiazki.html

APPENDIX:

Cengage. (2019). Milosz, Czeslaw (1911–2004). Retrieved from https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/milosz-czeslaw-1911-2004

Culture.pl. (n.d.). Czesław Miłosz. Retrieved from https://culture.pl/en/artist/czeslaw-milosz

Eagle Poetry. (n.d.). "A Song On the End of the World". Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/site/eaglepoetry/czeslaw-milosz/-a-song-on-the-end-of-the-world

Jollimore, T. (2017, April 21st). Czeslaw Milosz: One of the most fascinating poets of the past 100 years. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/czeslaw-milosz-one-of-the-most-fascinating-poets-of-the-past-100-years/2017/04/21/06c9a2e6-2539-11e7-b503-9d616bd5a305_story.html

Retailmfa. (2014, July 3rd). Analysis of "Song on The End of the World" by Czeslaw Milosz [Blog Post]. Retrieved from retailmfa.blogspot.com/2014/07/analysis-of-song-on-end-of-world-by.html

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2019). Czesław Miłosz. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Czeslaw-Milosz